


Marching Band Moments with Mark Lee

by Selantro



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Marching Band, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Mark Lee (NCT), Cuddling & Snuggling, Cute Mark Lee (NCT), Disney World & Disneyland, F/M, First Love, Fluffy Ending, Inspired by Real Events, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Mark Lee Are Best Friends, Marching Band, Mark Lee is a flute, Parades, Strangers to Lovers, doyoung as a section leader, reader and mark are in the same section
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:41:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23864680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selantro/pseuds/Selantro
Summary: Dating within your section is usually a big no-no if you want to avoid future disaster, but Mark Lee and the newest freshman, Y/N, have a chemistry brewing that's impossible to deny.
Relationships: Mark Lee (NCT) & Reader, Mark Lee (NCT)/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	Marching Band Moments with Mark Lee

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all this is based off of a relationship I had during marching season that was pretty fanfiction worthy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer sectionals technically aren't part of the marching season, but they're important nonetheless.

"Band Atten hut!"

"Knights!" 

"Oh my god..." You whispered as you gasped quietly, clutching your heart for your dear life. Bless your poor startled soul when the overflowing hallway of about a hundred fifty kids called to attention. At your side of the hallway, a rather large line of frightened newbies nearly collectively jumped to their feet at the reverberation of shouts; including you. 

"Flutes first." A authoritative voice called over the crowd. 

Reluctantly, you shuffled down the hall and into the unfamiliar room. You followed the speaker's instruction and sat down in a corner of the room, next to the grand piano. Nervously, you watched as more and more people began filling into the room. Once again, the voice told the students to cram tighter into the space as there was still a plethora of kids who needed to sit down too. Much to your discomfort, you had to scoot closer to the boy that was sitting next to you. 

"Yo a new flute!" The fluffy haired boy next to you exclaimed, catching your attention. It took you a second to realize that his sparkly, dark brown eyes were glued to you. You quickly registered that the stranger was trying to talk to you. A slightly dumbfounded look crossed your face. You weren't really expected an older kid to talk to you this quickly. Not even uttering a peep, you nodded. Once he knew he had your attention, he continued. "I'm Mark. This loser's Chenle." He said, pointing to himself and then at the boy next to him.

"Y/N." You replied.

"Nervous?" He asked, tilting his head and sending a cascade of fluffy black locks tumbling onto one side. Something about his hair was just so fascinating to watch for some reason. Maybe cause you'd never really seen a boy with long hair like his. You concluded that high school boys were a totally different breed than the boys you had been interacting with back at your school.

"A bit." You squeaked.

A giggly, melodious laugh escaped his lips before they formed into a smile. "Don't worry, they're just going to like get your like information and stuff and we go into sections and do like ice breakers and introduce ourselves." 

Your mouth formed into a silent O shape before your attention was stolen by the unknown voice. True to Mark's words, a few highschoolers stood at the front of the room to introduce themselves and their leadership positions. With every individual introduction came a chorus of "whoops" from their friends. Mark and Chenle were no exception when a boy named Doyoung announced himself to be the Flute section leader.Clearly they were friends with him. You'd come to learn that the voice giving your commands belonged to someone they called a "drum major." Said drum major had the section leader hand out cards and pencils to the group to write down their details. Information was taken, sizes were measured, and people were met. Not that you would've been able to name anyone in your section aside from those who went to the same school as you. 

~

With the end of the school came Summer. With Summer came a flood of new experiences and stress; aka Summer sectionals. There was something about sitting outside in the blazing sun for an hour and thirty minutes after summer school that you hated with a passion. What was worse was when all mighty section leader Doyoung stopped teaching the freshmen commands in favor of going over the parade march. You had to admit, you weren't that good at playing the flute and you sure as hell weren't confident in it.

If there was anything worse than down the line, it was testing. Even if it was just the first few measures of the march,which you had already practiced to perfection, you couldn't stop the anxiety from bubbling in your stomach. Being in the lower chairs also meant that you had to wait longer to test as it went by chair order. Watching people get up and disappear around the side of the building did nothing to calm your nerves. Considering the amount of people in the flute section, it wasn't a surprise that it took a while till it was your turn. 

After a while of waiting, your friend returned from testing, signalling you to get up and face your fate. Hesitantly, you stood up from your sitting position against the side of the building and walked around the corner. Silently, you prayed that Doyoung would be the one to administer the test as he'd been the one doing most of the testing in the first place. Unfortunately for you, Doyoung was busy testing another person. Quietly, you walked past him and towards the other option a bit of a distance away.

Mark stood, leaning against the brick wall in all his glory. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and he was humming a tune foreign to your ears. The male's pretty brown eyes were focused on nothing in particular among the trees. His beauty was unnatural yet he seemed so natural. 

"Yo." The male greeted as he noticed you approaching him. He pushed himself off the wall and walked up the music stand that had been set up. 

"Hey." You replied whilst putting the sheet music on the stand.

Mark had no idea why he felt nervous. He wasn't even the one playing. There was just something about standing face to face with you that made his heart speed up a little. He'd never really gotten to look at you up close because he had no reason to. Unconsciously, his hand shot up to run through his locks and tuck what hair he could behind his ears. You were just so pretty. The way you stood awkwardly in front of the stand and peered at him through your long lashes launched a wave of butterflies through his stomach. 

It felt like an eternity. No one was saying anything, but neither of you really felt awkward. If anything, you were mesmerized. Mesmerized by the way Mark's eyes sparkled. Mesmerized by the way his hair flopped back into place whenever he run his hands through it. Mesmerized by his lips when he bit down on them anxiously. 

"Y-you can start whenever you're ready." He suggested, snapping you out of your reverie. 

You played well. So well that you forgot that you were even nervous in the first place. Sure it was bad that you blanked out while playing because you were too dazed thinking about Mark running his hands through his hair. In the end, practice saved you because it really ended up being your muscle memory that took control. 

Mark could tell that it was your muscle memory playing and not you. When you finished playing, he began to list the problems with articulation, dynamics, and etc. You knew it made you a bad musician that you weren't exactly paying attention to the commentary, but damn it Mark wouldn't stop running his damn nice hands through his nice ass hair. In turn, Mark was trying his best to tell you what you could improve, but you were staring straight into his eyes. It was just so distracting. 

"Did you uh get that?" He asked sheepishly once he was done.

"Yeah."

The male took a look over your shoulder and noticed that Doyoung had left with the stand, presumably because testing was finished. "Ah guess it's time to go. I'll get the stand."

~

Bands can't function without teamwork. It's one of the most essential aspects of the band. How do you promote closeness and friendships? Section bondings. Up until the section bonding, you hadn't really interacted with much of the upperclassmen. Sure there was the usual exchange of greetings and the initial playing of ice breakers but you'd yet to form any meaningful connections with anyone outside your class. Realistically, you'd yet to make any non-band related conversation with anyone.

Somehow, the bonding wasn't awkward. It didn't take long for you to realize that age didn't really matter when it came to making friends. A thrilling concept that hadn't been explored until now. Maybe it was the chiller atmosphere as compared to sectionals, which were all work and no play. Nevertheless, it certainly helped you shed your freshman shyness. 

Mafia was a disaster. Guess who got picked for the mafia role? Little ol' you. Guess who got chosen as the other mafia? Mark. Oh poor Mark. Or maybe you were the one who had befallen the misfortune. Although it was certainly endearing, the poor male was a horrible liar. By the second figurative day in the game, the fluffy haired flutist was accused of being the mafia for being suspiciously quiet. The boy's once pale complexion was flaming red and he was smiling nervously. Once realizing his dead giveaway, Mark buried his face in his hands and looked away. Needless to say, he was voted out. 

The next time the moderator called for Mafia to wake up, the first thing you did was shoot Mark a glare that screamed fear but also betrayal. Silently, you swung your hands wildly in frustration. In return, the male burst out in a stream of giggles and hand claps, causing you to panic and clamp your hand over his mouth to shut him up. Your E/C eyes were at the largest that they had ever been when you bore into his eyes with a silent message. Once he seemed like he would stop laughing, you removed your hand from his face and chose to murder Chenle. They'd never suspect you. 

The mafia game ended quickly when the literal human embodiment of a dolphin accidentally exposed you for murdering him. It was definitely a mistake to underestimate his reaction and volume once he was out of the game and they definitely suspected you. You were a bad liar but at least you weren't Mark. With the end of Mafia came the best game to ever be invented; cards against humanity. Given the size of your section, straws were drawn to chose a team. Once again, the giggly sophomore was your partner in crime. 

"Let's hope you're better at cards against humanity than you are at mafia." You joked as he sat down beside you in the circle. 

"I swear I'm better at cards than I am at mafia," the boy spoke as you passed him his cards. "Yo this one's really good!" He pointed out as he leaned over you to look at your set of cards. 

In turn, you leaned back to take a gander at his cards. "Not bad." You muttered as your eyes scanned the words. You didn't mean to but you noticed that Mark had really nice hands. Immediately after realizing you were lowkey checking him out, you shot back to your original position, stiff as a board. Your partner finally looked up from the cards to see Doyoung watching him with a smirk. Mark's cheeks turned red and he too shot back into his original position.

Mark was a good christian boy, but he was also a teenager. Some innuendos passed right over his head, and some made him giggle like he'd just been told a compromising secret at a girl's sleepover. It was cute though. For once, you were the mature one. In terms of understanding sexual jokes at least. 

"You're a lot less innocent than I expected." He noted after you won the shiny black card by placing down a particularly dark humored card. 

"Thanks, you're a lot more innocent than I expected." You chirped as you leaned over to pluck a card from his hand. Putting three cards in order, you showed him the answer. He squinted at the cards trying to decipher the meaning. Meanwhile, a smile curved on your lips as you noticed his little nose scrunch. God it was just too cute. When he caught you staring, he pulled back and quickly nodded his head before looking away. 

"Alcoholism + No one showing up to your birthday party= Seppuku." 

A second after the cards were read aloud, Mark burst out laughing, hand claps and all. The poor boy barely understood the joke. 

"Bruh! You let me put down the cards without knowing what they meant?" You squealed. Your mouth was agape and your eyebrows were furrowed as you gave his a small push.

"Sorry, I just got it." He smiled shyly. "But you're really good at this. You were gonna like pick a really good answer anyways." His warm, reassuring smile sent shivers down your spine. Quickly, you averted your eyes to your cards. 

"Thanks, I guess."

~

As the summer heat dragged on, so did the desperation for relief from the sun's powerful rays. Your sectionals changed from being under the shade of the career center building at the high school to Doyoung's house. For the most part, sectionals took place in his garage with the fan trying it's best to provide cool air for your section. 

Doyoung was a good section leader. He was a good flutist in general and had exceptional musicality. He was a good leader but he was also lenient when it came to stressful times. You were pretty lucky that he let a girl in your section bring water balloons and water guns to his house when it was a raging 100 degrees outside. He even ended sectionals early so that everyone could set up the water balloons. 

"Yo Y/N, want the big boy balloon?" Your new friend, Sara, asked as she held up the large green mass. 

"Hell yeah."

Once the toy was in your possession, there was no stopping you. You began your tyrannical reign of evil upon your friends when you chased them around Doyoung's driveway. Squeals left their mouths as they attempted to dodge the stream of water being shot at them. Yeah that's right, you'd armed yourself with a toy water gun too. You weren't as athletic as say, Sara, so you soon had to give up your conquest to find an easier target. Doyoung wasn't that easy of a target, but he was certainly a unoccupied and unassuming one. Like a tiger stalking its prey, you watched Doyoung and he conversed with Mark and Chenle on the patio's chairs. 

It was a lot less climactic than you expected, but the water balloon you threw at them was enough provocation to get the boy on his feet. "Yah!" He yelled angrily with wide eyes as you raced away. Mark, who was equally soaked laughed hysterically at his friend's reaction. 

"Don't worry, I'll avenge you." The boy joked as he got up to join the fun. Soon after, Doyoung and Chenle followed after their friend to see what hell he'd raise. 

And raise hell he did. The boy crept up to the tub filled with water balloons and snatched a few of the "weapons." Silently, he stalked up to where you were standing. At the moment, you were tying up your H/C locks into a ponytail while talking with Sara about her braces. Essentially, you were a sitting duck just waiting to get ambushed. Mark prided himself on both his aim and the distance from which he threw the balloon. It hit the ground, just next to your feet, causing you to jump and squeal in surprise. 

"Yoo!! Did you see that?!" The male cheered excitedly to Chenle, who stood behind him. The two exchanged a hi five before the other male ran off.

"You made her mad!" He squeaked.

You weren't mad, but you sure were competitive. Mark's delayed escape resulted in a water balloon hitting him square on the chest, soaking his white tee shirt entirely. "Sorry! That must've hurt." You apologized, walking up to him.

"It's cool, it's cool. Too bad you fell right into my trap." He howled dramatically, throwing a pink balloon on the floor. This time, the male made a successful escape and was at the other end of Doyoung's driveway by the time you got another balloon. Mark however, had ran away without collecting ammo for himself, therefore leaving himself defenseless. 

Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around Mark's body, trapping him in his spot. If he weren't so concerned with the ever present doom, the male would've been complaining about the skin ship. Instead, he was squirming around to make a mad dash away from the approaching girl. "I offer Mark Lee as tribute!" the younger male laughed. 

Giggling at your fortune, you threw the last balloon at Mark, once again soaking his entire outfit. 

"Ooooiii, GG." He relinquished, about to walk back to where he was sitting before. 

"Hey there's two more water guns left." You called from behind him, an evil smirk on your face. Said evil smirk turned into a lip bite as you watched the sophomore's eyes light up. You really couldn't help but create situations to spend more time with him. His smile was just infectious. 

"Duel?" 

"No, I was thinking about an ambush." 

"Hahahahh! Oh dude that's great." He laughed, walking up to take one of the toy guns from your hand. "You take Doyoung, I'll take Chenle." He suggested. 

"Sounds like a plan." You replied, already following him to the side of the building. 

The two of you pressed your backs to the wall as you slunk around the corner to the patio. You had to slap a hand over your mouth to refrain from giggling when Mark started signally dramatic and virtually incomprehensible instructions with just his hands and wild expressions. Having had enough, you pushed the boy forward and into view of the two unsuspecting victims. You quickly followed after and stood by the male's side. "Fire!" You shouted dramatically. 

Just like before, the two were less then satisfied, but not mad. In an old man Doyoung fashion, your section leader stood up and shouted "Yah" at the top of his lungs. Chenle was appalled by the ambush and was yelling "Oh my gawd" over and over again. 

"Oh shoot let's go let's go!" Your partner in crime shrieked as he grabbed onto your free hand and dashed away with you in tow. Needless to say, the two boys were hot on your heels. Luckily for you though, Mark was such good friends with Doyoung that he knew his house like the back of his hand. The male ducked behind the garage and into a small space between the wall and the fence. 

It was a tight fit, but it was doable. The two of you leaned with your backs against the wall, huffing with exhaustion but also cheery with your victory. When both parties had calmed down, the male noticed a small leaf in your hair from when you ran past the tree to get here in the first place. Without thinking, Mark reached over to pluck the plant from your hair. He then thought about how soft your hair actually was and blushed. Said blush intensified when he realized the close proximity between you and him. Like the day he tested you, you were staring up at him through your thick lashes with an unreadable expression on. From your eyes, his line of sight made its way down to your plush lips. 

"Oh geezus what the hell." The voice of a very worn out and tired Doyoung drifted the front of the garage. 

Your own E/C eyes made contact with Mark's dark brown ones and crinkled with glee. The two of you then broke out into an unstoppable fit of laughter at the expense of your poor section leader's sanity. Raising his section of kids was hard on Momma Doyoung. Especially with dumb asses like you and Mark.


End file.
